ANFREL Recommends Improving Candidate Qualifications and Election Transparency

The Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL) released its final international monitoring report for the 2024 Indonesian election. In its report, ANFREL recommends that provisions and laws related to candidate qualifications, including age requirements, be regulated in detail so that the eligibility criteria for political office have strict qualifications and are clear.

ANFREL highlighted the Constitutional Court’s (MK) decision that passed President Joko Widodo’s son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, as the most controversial issue. According to him, misuse of state resources, especially the allocation and distribution of social assistance (bansos), to influence voter preferences often occurs during elections.

“Parliament must strengthen initiatives to monitor and publish findings related to misuse of state resources through legislative initiatives, policy reform, and transparency,” said ANFREL Executive Director Brizza Rosales in the “Report Launch and Discussion: Consolidating CSO Efforts to Strengthen Democracy in Indonesia” in Cikini, Jakarta (7/6).

Furthermore, according to him, the General Election Commission of the Republic of Indonesia (KPU) and the Election Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) must thoroughly investigate the misuse of state resources and implement policies to address it. ANFREL also urges the KPU to be more transparent and inclusive in making regulations and to be proactive in providing the latest information to stakeholders regarding mechanisms and complaint resolution.

“We assess that so far the KPU and Bawaslu have problems with independence and competence, seeing the many ethical violations and lack of action on important election issues during the elections,” said Brizza.

ANFREL, together with the Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem), the Voter Education Network for the People (JPPR), and the Independent Election Monitoring Committee (KIPP), generally recommend improvements to the election system, funding of election participants, and misuse of state resources. They consider this urgent and important to do ahead of the 2024 simultaneous regional elections. []